The deterministic structural integrity assessment of reactor pressure vessels under pressurized thermal shock loading

The deterministic structural integrity of a reactor pressure vessel (RPV) related to pressurized thermal shocks (PTSs) has been extensively studied. While the nil-ductility-transition temperature (RTNDT) parameter is widely used, the influence of fluence and temperature distributions along the thickness of the base metal wall cannot be reflected in the comparative analysis. This paper introduces the method using a structure safety margin (SM) parameter which is based on a comparison between the material toughness (the fracture initiation toughness KIC or fracture arrest toughness KIa) and the stress intensity factor (SIF) along the crack front for the integrity analysis of a RPV subjected to PTS transients. A 3-D finite element model is used to perform fracture mechanics analyses considering both crack initiation assessment and arrest assessment. The results show that the critical part along the crack front is always the clad-base metal interface point (IP) rather than the deepest point (DP) for either crack initiation assessment or crack arrest assessment under the thermal load. It is shown that the requirement in Regulatory Guide 1.154 that 'axial flaws with depths less than 20% of the wall thickness and all circumferential flaws should be modeled in infinite length' may be non-conservative. As the assessment result is often poor universal for a given material, crack and transient, caution is recommended in the safety assessment, especially for the IP. The SIF reduces under the thermal or pressure load if the map cracking (MC) effect is considered. Therefore, the assumption in the ASME and RCCM codes that the cladding should be taken into account in determining the stress fields is conservative when there are small cracks in the cladding (considering MC effect).